Runway Configuration Management System Concepts.

Airport congestion is a problem at the busy airports in the U.S. today. Even under moderate growth projections, the problem of increasing delays will worsen at these busy airports, and will spread to other airports which would approach saturation conditions. While long term relief to the congestion problem would be provided by technological improvements, it is essential to fully and efficiently utilize the existing facilities to avoid excessive delays in the near term. This paper addresses the problem of selecting optimal runway configurations to minimize delays through th use of a Runway Configuration Management System. Three concepts of this system are developed to represent the full range of static and dynamic configuration selection processes. The basic model, representing the first level concept, has been developed for Chicago OHare International Airport. The application of the model at OHare and its possible extensions are also discussed. Author